Carried: How One Mother’s Trust in God Helped Her through the Unthinkable Summary
On October 19, 2016, Michelle Schmidt’s plane landed in Oregon, where she was meeting her daughter, Annie, for a camping trip. But Annie didn’t show up at the airport to pick up her mother as planned.
Thus began a season of searching and coming up short, of miracles and frustrations, of love poured out and faith tested, until Annie’s body was finally discovered more than three weeks later in the Columbia River Gorge, where she had fallen while hiking.
As Annie’s mother opens her heart to tell her story, her husband’s story (Jon Schmidt of The Piano Guys), and Annie’s story, she writes: “It is my hope that my journey of being tutored by God to trust Him more—not only through the loss of Annie but through some of my most vulnerable and personal past experiences—will be the means of bringing strength and hope to anyone suffering at this time.”
When the unthinkable happened, Michelle Schmidt made a choice: to trust in God. This remarkable book will give readers the courage and inspiration to make that same choice.
Carried Review
Disclaimer: This book should come with a box of tissues and a #tissuealert. I’m not one who is easily moved to tears but I made the mistake of taking this book to read to read in public while waiting for one of my children. Oops.
Wow. This is one of the most moving and powerful books I have read in a long time. I’ve been a fan of The Piano Guys for many years. I remember when Annie Schmidt went missing. I followed the search on social media. As a mother, I cannot imagine the nightmare that Michelle Schmidt endured during those weeks. And I am impressed by the strength and grief and vulnerability and faith in her story of those experiences.
Carried alternates between Michelle’s account of the search operation and reminiscences of her life and the lessons she learned that gave her the strength to endure this trial. I love people stories, especially true stories. My favorite people stories are the ones where I learn what makes them “tick,” how they faced challenges in their lives and overcame them. Carried might just be my all-time favorite.
If you are a fan of true stories, if you are a fan of moving, uplifting and faith-promoting stories, if you are a fan of women who persist and never give up, you will love this book.
Carried: How One Mother’s Trust in God Helped Her through the Unthinkable, by Michelle Schmidt and Angie Taylor, is available in Kindle, Paperback and Audio CD from Amazon.com. It is also available from Deseret Book in Paperback, eBook, Audio CD and Audio MP3.